A wide variety of electronic devices use a removable memory card having information stored therein. One such electronic device is an iDEN™ 2000 radiotelephone manufactured by Motorola, Inc. of Schaumburg, Ill. The iDENT™ 2000 radiotelephone is a dual-mode handset that operates in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 900 MHz frequency range, as well as in Motorola's iDEN integrated digital networks. The i2000 radiotelephone like many other communication devices includes a subscriber identity module (SIM) which is also referred to as a smart card. The SIM holds a wide variety of important data including for example, a SIM serial number, international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) which identifies the radio subscriber, etc. Given the sensitive nature of the data stored in the SIM card, a personal identification number (PIN) that is stored in the SIM, or derived by the SIM from information stored in the SIM is required to be entered in the electronic device at certain times in order for the data stored in the SIM to be accessed.
Whenever a software or other error condition occurs, a radiotelephone will typically be reset automatically. However, when the radiotelephone is reset the SIM is also reset, so the user is required to reenter the PIN number of the SIM or the SIM will not allow information stored therein to be accessed by the radiotelephone. This requirement of having to reenter the PIN is, of course, done in order to protect the highly sensitive information stored in the SIM.
Many times, however, the radiotelephone user is not looking at the radiotelephone and does not realize that the radiotelephone has reset and that the SIM's PIN has to be reentered. Until the SIM's PIN is entered the user will not be able to receive any incoming phone or dispatch calls. This condition can be very annoying to some radio users and is very critical for radio users such as police and fire departments who need to monitor for emergency situations.
Another problem that currently occurs with the SIM's PIN is that when a radiotelephone that is capable of operating in more than one communication protocol (e.g., iDEN and GSM) changes protocols, the radio user has to reenter the SIM's PIN. This is time consuming for the radio user and is another thing a user has to remember to accomplish. Given the above, a need exists in the art for a method of providing a PIN to a SIM in order to help alleviate some of the above mentioned problems.